- From: Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>
- Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 19:17:26 +0000 (UTC)
- To: Larry Masinter <masinter@adobe.com>
- Cc: Leif Halvard Silli <lhs@malform.no>, HTML WG <public-html@w3.org>
On Sat, 30 May 2009, Larry Masinter wrote: > > On the other hand, I think the document produced should honestly and > openly say what actually happened, who was represented, the scope of > applicability, in the abstract and intro front matter, in the "Design > Principles" published, etc. This is not covered by the History section? http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#history-0 If there is anything additional you believe should be listed here, please let me know. > Yes, the charter says the goal was to "evolve" the document from HTML4. > I think it is the obligation of the working group, in the documents it > publishes, to say that (and why) this path wasn't actually followed, and > give at least some summary of the reasons and the actual path taken. HTML5 is indeed an evolution of HTML4. An evolution of a language doesn't have to involve using text verbatim from the previous specification. > Right now, "1.6.1 Relationship to HTML 4.01 and DOM2 HTML" > > > This specification represents a new version of HTML4, along with a new > > version of the associated DOM2 HTML API. Migration from HTML4 to the > > format and APIs described in this specification should in most cases > > be straightforward, as care has been taken to ensure that > > backwards-compatibility is retained. [HTML4] > > While you might want to argue under some legalism that a document > constructed "from scratch" was "a new version of HTML4", I don't see how > that statement ever got into the document in the first place, and would > formally object to publication of documents that continue this > misrepresentation. Could you elaborate on how or why this is a misrepresentation? It seems completely truthful, accurate, and not in any sense misleading, to me. It certainly wasn't meant in a misleading manner. What text would you suggest instead? > Just tell the truth -- everyone here knows it, people not in the working > group who read the document should too. In what sense is it not the truth? (I'll let Maciej respond to the rest of the e-mail, which appears to be about the design principles specifically, and not the HTML5 spec.) -- Ian Hickson U+1047E )\._.,--....,'``. fL http://ln.hixie.ch/ U+263A /, _.. \ _\ ;`._ ,. Things that are impossible just take longer. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
Received on Saturday, 30 May 2009 19:18:02 UTC